May the Best Student Win! Cure Pirouette Is Born!
May the Best Student Win! Cure Pirouette Is Born! is the fourth chapter of On Pointe! Pretty Cure! Major Events * Sakura Momoi makes her first appearance. * Sakura transforms into Cure Pirouette and performs Floral Spin for the first time. * Coppelia makes her first appearance. * The Cures battle one of Queen Carabosse's minions directly for the first time. Synopsis On the day of the competition, Akane, in her school uniform, and Haruki, in his dance class uniform (but with his competition costume's dance tights and ballet slippers), are being taken by limousine to Serenity Hall, where the competition will take place. Akane is looking through the competition program, which lists her as coming first, followed by Karen and Gina, then a girl from another class named Sakura. Haruki asks if she's nervous. Akane replies that isn't. Haruki notes how not surprised he is considering they've both managed to get in a surprisingly sufficient amount of practice after the whole retest thing. Suddenly, Irina yelps in fright. Kenji, the Aizawa family's valet, asks if something's the matter. Akane reassures him that everything's all right, at least at the moment. The limo continues on to Serenity Hall as a girl looks on from the shadows. Outside of Serenity Hall, Akane suddenly asks Haruki about Sakura. Haruki mentions knowing her from things some of the first-years had been saying about her, e.g. that she's a dangerous dancer for her choice of practice attire ("She's the only Camargo student I know of to wear a tutu when practicing in her spare time--and not just any tutu, so I heard, but, for all intents and purposes, a performance tutu!"). Once inside, Akane is quick to change into her costume for her solo performance. As Haruki is practicing by himself at a barre placed near the rest of his costume, Sakura, herself already in costume, walks up to him. Haruki recognizes her as the fourth-year grade schooler who had beaten him in his first competition a couple of years or so before. Haruki resolves to win the gold this time around, and Sakura warns him that she's not easy to beat, considering she's aiming to continue her total winning streak in competitions. As they converse, Akane's performance of Cinderella's solo from Act I of Cinderella begins, and Haruki rushes to a spot in the wings where he can watch her without being seen by the spectators, with Sakura following him. Sakura soon realizes that she may have some real competition. Next up are Karen and Gina, performing the Dance of the Reed Flutes from The Nutcracker. Backstage, Akane is changing into her costume for her pas de deux with Haruki, finally giving Irina an opportunity to tell her what she had wanted to earlier. Irina explains that not only was there a new enemy following them all the way to Serenity Hall, she had detected a Grace Stone in the theatre, and not just anywhere, but on one of the students she and Haruki would have to look out for. Haruki, who was listening in on the conversation, suddenly knocks and asks if Akane is finished in there yet, because he had some information she might think to be useful. Akane asks who might have the Grace Stone, and Haruki says it might be Sakura... just as Sakura's performance, from Act II of Coppelia, is about to begin. As Sakura dances, Akane observes how good she is just before she notices a glint off of her and tells Haruki he's right that she might have one of the Grace Stones. Suddenly, the mysterious girl, Coppelia, shows up and challenges Akane and Haruki, asking if they've got their Grace Pointe Shoes because otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight. Akane and Haruki run into a nearby janitorial closet and transform quickly while Coppelia waits outside. Suddenly, just as Sakura is about to finish her performance, a spotlight OwarinoDansu appears right behind her, landing on the stage as the audience begins to panic. Coppelia, pretending to look at a wristwatch, remarks, "Just in time." Akane and Haruki emerge from the closet and are shocked to see the OwarinoDansu, much to Coppelia's confusion ("Don't look at me, I don't know how to make those creatures."). Akane and Haruki agree that Akane will fight Coppelia while Haruki will take on the OwarinoDansu. Akane and Coppelia are on rather even footing; however, Haruki gets off to a bad start, getting hit in the middle of executing his Fiery Leap attack. Fortunately, Yukari shows up, having already transformed, and manages to disable the OwarinoDansu with Graceful Brush. She explains to Akane and Haruki afterwards that she figured the pebble she found in the classroom the week before must've been one of the Grace Stones she had mentioned. Irina recognizes it as such right before the OwarinoDansu gets back up and strikes Yukari and kicks Haruki to the side before Coppelia, annoyed at Akane taking too long to get back to their fight, kicks her in the head, knocking her down. Annoyed at her performance being interrupted, Sakura throws her slipper at the OwarinoDansu to get its attention and starts to punch and kick it. Unfortunately, she's grabbed by it, the touch singeing her. Fortunately, a light from Irina's bow shoots out at that moment and wraps around her ankles. Sakura asks Irina what to do almost on instinct, and when Irina tells her what to do, she can't stop giggling even as she starts transforming. By the time she's finished, though, she's able to regain her composure, and she manages to finish off the OwarinoDansu, at which point Akane gets back up and punches Coppelia to the floor. To everyone's shock, instead of swearing vengeance, Coppelia simply laughs, telling the Cures how much she enjoyed it and wishes to do it again, cheerfully saying goodbye before leaving. Yukari tells Akane and Haruki she happened to have enough free time on her hands this time around and that she'll join their adventure for sure. Sakura says she simply hates when a performance is interrupted, and that's just one reason she's joining the team. Irina welcomes her to the club. Later, Akane and Haruki, the latter now in full costume, perform the pas de deux from Act II of Cinderella as Sakura watches, and when the results are announced, Akane wins the bronze for her solo and the gold for her role in Haruki's performance, Haruki wins the gold, and Sakura wins the silver, remarking to Haruki that they're even now, considering they both won the gold and the silver against each other, and shaking hands with him. Closing Ballet Lesson : Setting: Sakura's dorm room : Teacher: Sakura : Lesson Title: More Barre Exercises : Summary: In her ballet practice tutu, Sakura teaches the viewer/reader more barre exercises, including ronds de jambe, développés, and dégagés. Characters * Akane Akagi/Cure Arabesque * Haruki Aizawa/Cure Jete * Yukari Murasaki/Cure Assemblé * Sakura Momoi/Cure Pirouette * Irina * Coppelia * Aratani Aizawa * Ema Ikeda * Karen Morikawa * Gina Aizawa * Tsubomi Ohara * Yuki Ohara * Akira Murasaki * Amaterasu Aizawa * Ayaka Ohara * Kenji Tomatsu Music selections featured NOTE: All selections listed in order alphabetical. * "Act I: No. 2 Valse" from Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky) - Opening scene, when Akane and Haruki are being transported to Serenity Hall. * "Act II: No. 14 Pas de Deux: Coda" from The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky) - When Akane and Haruki are talking about Sakura before the competition begins. * "Act I: No. 9 Cinderella Dreams of the Ball" from Cinderella (Prokofiev) - Akane's solo performance. * "Divertissement: Dance of the Reed Flutes" from The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky) - Karen and Gina's performance. * "Act III: Variation: Kitri" from Don Quixote (Minkus) - Plays as Akane is changing her costume and Irina informs her about the Grace Stone in the theatre. * "Act II: No. 13 Dance of the Doll" from Coppélia (Delibes) - Sakura's performance, which eerily enough doubles as Coppelia's leitmotif. * "Act II: No. 13 Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky) - Plays during Cure Jete's attempted Fiery Leap; a record scratch sound cuts off the music when the attack is foiled. * "Act I: No. 6 Garland Waltz" from The Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky) - The music accompanying Graceful Brush. * "Act III: No. 19 Waltz of the Hours" from Coppélia (Delibes) - Sakura's transformation music; a fuller version plays during the Closing Ballet Lesson. * "Act I: No. 4 The Presents of Drosselmeyer: Nutcracker Polka" from The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky) - The music accompanying Floral Spin. * "Act II: No. 36 Duet of the Prince and Cinderella" from Cinderella (Prokofiev) - Haruki's pas de deux with Akane. Trivia * Haruki's past is touched upon for the first time, when it's mentioned that Sakura had once beaten him in a dance competition when he was younger. * This is the first time an OwarinoDansu appears to appear out of nowhere, and also the first time a Cure directly fights a villain.